ActBlue Looking for Ideas (prizes involved!)

"I believe candidates with strong, sound stances deserve our support, and this is a race where your dollars can make the difference. Please make a contribution to this critical cause."

Sound familiar? If you have any experience with our fundraising pages you will have seen this (and perhaps fallen asleep to it) a few too many times. It is the default text for ActBlue's fundraising pages. ActBlue's customizable fundraising pages allow progressive activists to raise money for the best Democratic candidates out there easily and effectively, and the fifty state blog network has taken advantage of this feature to support state and national candidates with customized, targeted pages. But while the original blurb did help Democrats use our pages, we're in year 5 of ActBlue, and this is definitely year 3-4 material. We'll be working with thousands of new fundraisers this cycle, and we want to make sure they have the best language. And, well, this isn't it.

So, we need ideas.

We know you're best equipped to know what language will appeal to your friends and neighbors, so we wanted to give all of you an opportunity to create the next fundraising page blurb. If we pick yours, it will show up automatically on almost every fundraising page created on ActBlue. To show our appreciation, we'll send the winner and two runners-up an ActBlue Ice Cream Scoop! (No, we're not kidding. And trust us, it's a high quality scoop - The Original Zeroll.) Okay, here are the guidelines:

1. The blurb must be fewer than 50 words.
2. It has to be fairly generic (no specific issues or names), but still get across the basic reason for the fundraising page. This is something our current text does fairly well, if you are looking for an example.
3. If you can make it apply to pages for candidates and/or committees, all the better. If not, at least make it appeal to people looking to donate to candidates.
4. We are Democrats, and our pages are for Democrats. If your message would appeal to Democrats, that would probably earn points.
5. Humor is a big plus, but only that universal humor that works for everyone.
6. Effective fundraising is personal. Think about what kind of language would help you be a better fundraiser, and think about why your friends and family might feel compelled to give.
7. All entries must be received by 3/25.

Fill out your entry form right here! Thank you for your participation! ActBlue is active in all 50 states, helping Democrats raise money for their chosen candidate from the comfort of their living rooms and offices. We believe that your voice should be heard everywhere from your state capitol to the Senate floor, and we're working to make sure it is. Please support our work with a $15 recurring contribution today!

ActBlue is Hiring!

ActBlue is on the hunt for some kick-ass individuals to join the team and transform the Democratic Party: a communications genius, a legal mastermind, a blogger's blogger, and entry-level folks ready to learn the new tools of the trade.

If any of these sound like you, please read on. And if any of them sounds like someone you know, please send them this post and point them our way.

Since 2004 ActBlue has sent more than $30 million to over 2,000 Democratic campaigns and committees. We're laying the groundwork for aggressive targets in 2007-08: massive growth of our fundraiser network, increased outreach to thousands of state level campaigns, and raising $100 million for Democratic candidates and committees.

To reach those goals we're seeking comrades-in-arms, so to speak — super-sharp people who share our political goals, our commitment to rock-solid dependability, our impatience with inefficiency, and our commitment to serving as an honest broker for all Democratic campaigns.

Here are our current openings — for full descriptions and application info, see http://actblue.com/content/jobs

• Communications & Marketing Director
• Staff Counsel
• Netroots Coordinator
• Political Associate
• Office Manager

Key qualities we're looking for in applicants for all positions:

• Serious written and oral communication skills
• Serious attention to detail
• Serious willingness to do whatever needs to be done
• Serious commitment to Democratic victory

We are extremely selective in who we hire. You'll be working with a close-knit team in a rather free-wheeling environment that rewards initiative. You'll need to learn quickly and grow comfortable making independent (and correct!) decisions. Political or campaign experience is often helpful, but not a requirement.

All positions are full-time in Boston. Come join us!

Questions? Email jobs@actblue.com.

The $4 Million Man

Just a couple days shy of the end of the 3Q federal fundraising deadline, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards has officially passed the $4 million mark in funds raised online through ActBlue. Nearly 50,000 donors have powered Edwards to his current status as the most active candidate on ActBlue, both by number of dollars and donors. Over 100 grassroots fundraisers have helped make his success possible. Congrats!

Shift in the Top 10 Pages

It's not often that the list of the Lifetime Top 10 pages (by # of donors) changes this far out from an election, but this weekend the longstanding page in the 10th spot got knocked out by the recent Burn Bush for Darcy Burner effort.

With 2,422 donors, it's now #10, just behind John Kerry, replacing the longstanding Kos Dozen page from 2004. Both are great examples of thousands of small donors coming together to change the way we fund campaigns.

The $3,000,000 Man

John Edwards just became the first $3 million dollar candidate on ActBlue thanks to a push by MyDD User and ActBlue page creator Vox Populi. Considering we held conference calls regarding presidential fundraising earlier this week, I think this provides a great example!

New ActBlue Calendar

New readers to the blog will notice we've added an ActBlue Calendar of Upcoming Public Events to the right hand sidebar. We'll be keeping it up to date with our upcoming "how-to" calls, public meetings, or conferences at which we're speaking. It's another resource for our wide range of users to interact with us and learn how to improve fundraising techniques. We've got two events coming up next week with more on the way.

Are you new to fundraising or interested in improving your results with ActBlue? It is never too early to get started for 2008!

The ActBlue Team will be hosting two conference calls to share strategies for effective and fun fundraising. Join us on Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT) or on Thursday, April 19 at 10:00 pm EDT (7:00 pm PDT).

Send an email to rsvp@actblue.com by Monday April 16 with your date preference for call-in information and more details! We look forward to working with you to keep the blue wave going!

You can save events from our calendar onto your own calendar or even subscribe to all events. Click on the individual entries or the 'subscribe' link too see what we're talking about.

P.S. We've noticed that our calendar may not appear right away if you are using the Safari browser on Mac. If that's happening to you, view our full calendar once. The next time you come back to the blog it should load properly from then on.

Welcome to The ActBlue Blog!

With as many friends as ActBlue has in the Democratic blogging community, it's about time we joined the party with a blog of our own. So today we are launching our official ActBlue Blog where we look forward to bringing our donors, candidates, campaigns, fundraisers, and bloggers interesting resources, analysis, tips, and other information to more effectively raise funds to elect Democrats!

Here's just a sampling of things you can expect to see here-

• Case Studies on some of the most creative ways ActBlue has been used
• Analysis on how and why people donate
• State Reports that highlight successful state level campaigns
• Tips & Tricks about ways to use ActBlue you may not have known about
• Page of the Week where we will highlight our favorite fundraising strategies
• Monthly ActBlue Zeitgeist to explore trends, patterns, and other cool stuff
• Major Series where we will explore how we are most relevant to your efforts in fundraising

Our posts will strive to be informative and useful while maintaining the Democratic grassroots values which have driven us for the last two and a half years. We encourage you to subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up to receive new posts via e-mail to keep up with our latest posts (both available in the right sidebar). Otherwise keep checking http://blog.actblue.com for the latest!